Archives for November 11, 2010

‘The Sabres’ management missed the net in assembling this team, and it will hurt them for years to come. This team needs bona fide stars, like Alexander Ovechkin, who sacrifice for their team, but Vanek, Roy and Pominville are all under contract for this and the next two seasons or more. The Bills are in the position they are in due to bad drafting and trying to make a mediocre team a playoff contender. General Manager Darcy Regier can prevent this from happening to the Sabres by swallowing his pride, admitting he was wrong, blowing up the “core” and starting over. Or maybe he doesn’t have the heart either.’

Buffalo (5-9-2) at New York (7-7-1) (AP)

Buffalo Sabres (5-9-2) at New York Rangers (7-7-1) (The Sports Network)

Rangers set to host Sabres — with Gaborik (NHL.com)

Pregame Notes: Rangers vs. Buffalo (NewYorkRangers.com)

‘"We took it to the limit," Ruff said. "It was nice Jhonas again gave us some solid stops in the shootout, and Vanek has scored back-to-back in the shootout. You need that from your key players in the shootout. Those are big points, and you’ve got to make a difference."’

‘The Sabres started goaltender Jhonas Enroth for the second straight game Wednesday when they visited the New Jersey Devils. His backup was Patrick Lalime, who made the trip despite fears Tuesday he might have appendicitis. "It was a false alarm," Lalime said. "Everything was kind of leading to that a little bit, so we just went in [to the doctor] and took a look because we’re coming on the road, make sure everything was looking good, so it’s all good. Just a little stomach pain there, and I didn’t want to take a chance. I feel good. I’m ready to go."’

Ilya Kovalchuk lets puck, game slip away from Devils in 5-4 shootout loss to Buffalo Sabres (New York Daily News)

Ilya’s shootout flub sinks Devils (New York Post)

Ilya Kovalchuk loses control of puck during NJ Devils’ last chance in 5-4 shootout loss to Buffalo Sabres (Newark Star Ledger)

Coach John MacLean displayed anger during 2nd period timeout (Newark Star Ledger)

Photo gallery (Newark Star Ledger)

Devils can’t hold lead and lose to Sabres, 5-4, in shootout (Bergen Record)

Brodeur skates (Bergen Record)

Devils fall to Sabres in shootout (NewJerseyDevils.com)

Photo gallery (NewJerseyDevils.com)

Photo gallery (Sabres.com)

Photo gallery (AP)

‘“I would have rather have won it in regulation,” Ruff said after becoming the 18th NHL coach to reach 1,000 games, and the third to do it with one team. “We took it to the limit. Jhonas made some big saves in the shootout.”’

‘”I thought we came out with a lot of fire,” Roy said. “We got a lot of pucks to the net. We worked tremendously hard in our end and we capitalized on some opportunities. I thought our power play was great, Jhonas played great for us, it was a real team effort.”‘

‘Neither team scored in the 4-on-4 overtime session, sending the game to a shootout. Thomas Vanek scored first in the shootout to give the Sabres a 1-0 advantage, before Langenbrunner tied it 1-1. Roy scored in thenext round by roofing a backhand chance into the goal. Ilya Kovalchuk had a chance to extend the shootout session, but could not keep the puck on his stick and did not get a shot on goal.’

‘”I think, all of a sudden, you’re there,” Ruff said. “In my case, you’re there. What has broken it up has been the different ownership groups, the bankruptcy year … those times when things weren’t always that stable.”‘

Pirates grind to win on road (Portland Press Herald)

Pirates pull out gutsy victory (Maine Hockey Journal)

Falcons suffer power (play) outage (Springfield Republican)

Pirates Double the Falcons (PortlandPirates.com)

Falcons fall to Pirates 4-2 (FalconsAHL.com)